I took the truck to get some new tires put on.

Wrangler Radials 235/75/15 installed for $450.
Competitively priced for my area....

They told me I needed both upper control arms w/ball
joints. They said the rest of the front end looked fine.


I was quoted $700 installed, including alignment.

Looking at prices, control arms w/ball joint & bushings
are anywhere from $65-150 each.

How many 'shop' hours does it take to install ?

The quote seems high.....

The truck has 145000 miles on it. Is this common ?

 

Labor time is 1.4 hours per side, plus the alignment. Additional parts and labor will most likely be necessary. The cam bolts like to rust up and seize in the control arm bushings, requiring replacement. The cam bolts are not expensive, but it can be time consuming to get the old ones out.

 

I thought that the lower ball joints would need replacing long before uppers do as the lowers have all the weight on them.

Is this incorrect?

 

That is correct, the load carrying joint, (on any vehicle) is usually the first to go because it carries the weight. But if the uppers are not lubed often enough, they will also wear out.

On all SLA, (short long arm) suspensions, the upper control arm and ball joint follow the movement of the lower, with very little weight on it. When Replacing the upper control arm, the lower arm is allowed to hang to its full downward position, (support the vehicle by the frame). After you separate the upper ball joint from the knuckle, you can move the control arm up and down by hand very easily.

 

I finally got around to replacing the upper control arms, shocks,
camber bolts and sway bar bushings.

I took it to a local shop to have it aligned. The tech thanked
me for the new cam bolts, he said they can be a b!tch.

Cost me $85 and it drives nice. I climbed under to see what
they did. The tie rod sleeves had tool marks and it smelled
of P-blaster. I saw no evidence of greasing the other zirks.

Unfortunately the lower right control arm was covered with
grease ! The inner CV boot split and puked all over.

From what I've read, I may as well replace the axle shaft.

Should I start a new thread or continue rambling ?

 

Not a bad idea to start a thread for the half shaft. I think there are threads in the How To section for replacing it. Not a bad job, but it can be time consuming.

 

Just a quick comment: had similar problem with CV boot; much easier to just replace the axle shaft or take the axle shaft out and have a shop rebuild the CV joint and put proper boot on.

The amount of work is the same as the axle shaft comes out regardless.

Of course one can just replace the CV boot and hope that the CV joint will last a bit longer....not something I would suggest to anyone though. Not a good thing to have a CV joint come apart when driving.

Oh and I looked for a new thread, but did not see one.